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Nigel Farage v. Alex Salmond: The Great Title Fight of British Politics

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage addresses a rally on Scottish Independence on September 12, 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland. Mr Farage warned that a Yes vote will not deliver true Independence for Scotland, because First Minister Alex Salmond wants to keep Scotland in the European Union.

Image: Jeff J Mitchell

By Michael Crick2014-09-13 09:00:21 UTC

It would be the great title fight of British politics. The two great figures who suddenly, in their different ways, look set to change the course of history in the United Kingdom.

Nigel Farage v. Alex Salmond. The leader of the UK Independence Party (Ukip) and the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP). The British nationalist against the Scottish nationalist. What a match.

Two charismatic, street-fighters shunned by the London establishment - astute, populist campaigners who have grasped and exploited the growing disillusionment with the political system, and old-style ways associated with the centuries-old House of Commons.

Each is committed to destroying union which he thinks is oppressive and undemocratic — Farage the European Union, and Salmond, Scotland's 307-year-old union with England.

I'd pay good money for a seat for such a confrontation. Goodness knows which man would win it. But sadly it's a debate which may never happen. The nearest we got was in Glasgow Friday when Nigel Farage flew in to address a Ukip meeting in Glasgow (without Salmond present).

It was all organized with great secrecy. Ukip wouldn't reveal the location to journalists until a few hours beforehand. They feared a repeat of the nasty incident in Edinburgh last year when Farage was surrounded by scores of hostile demonstrators and had to take refuge in a nearby bar. "It the only time I've been locked into a pub," jokes the man who's well-known for his love of drinking beer.

On Friday night, Farage's car was brought up close to a side door and he was quickly bundled into the building before three dozen or so protestors realized what was happening.

It was a poor speech by Farage standards —normally he's one of the best orators in Britain. He was visibly sweating under the lights. Maybe the heavy security had undermined his usual confidence and composure. And he said nothing very new.

As he urged Scots to vote "No" next week in the referendum on independence, Farage argued that Scotland would never truly be independent so long as it continued to belong to the European Union (as the SNP leader Salmond envisages it would).

"This Referendum is not about independence," Farage said. "It's about separation from England, and signing up to a new treaty to be a province of a new European superstate."

Farage's best lines had come during interviews in England earlier in the day. He then said that if the two sides in the Referendum continued neck-and-neck (two polls in the last 36 hours have the No side narrowly ahead 52-48 and 51-49) then the Queen should speak out in favour of the Union. "She has a responsibility to say something," Farage argued.

That won't happen. Queen Elizabeth II has always been careful, during her 62-year reign, to keep out of politics. In any case, if Scotland was to leave the Union, it is proposed that she would remain Queen of Scotland, and her successors likewise retain the Scottish crown.

Tonight's speech is really all Farage has done in public on this quick trip to Scotland. Unlike the leaders of the three main British parties —Prime Minister David Cameron (Conservative); Labour's Ed Miliband; and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats, the Ukip leader has had no contact with ordinary voters. Tonight's meeting was confined to paid-up members of Ukip.

One wonders why Farage bothered to come. It seemed a token gesture. In practice his visit probably did nothing to help the "No" cause, and his trip certainly wasn't welcomed by the other three parties who back the status quo. Indeed, Salmond said Farage's visit would help the < a href="http://mashable.com/2014/09/11/youth-vote-scotland/">"Yes" vote. Neither Farage nor his party are anything like as popular in Scotland as they are in England. Many Scots see him as a wealthy, privately educated figure from southern England.

But Farage had to come north to retain credibility. How could the leader of a body called the UK Independence Party not be seen to do his bit to save the United Kingdom? If he'd not come, and Scotland voted "Yes" next week, his opponents would have slaughtered him for not helping out.

As things stand, the coming month could see both Salmond and Farage make huge strides in their ambitions. With the polls so close Salmond may well be on the verge of taking Scotland out of the Union. And Farage's party looks set to win its first seat in the House of Commons in a by-election next month in the Essex seaside town of Clacton.

Image: Martin Cleaver/Associated Press

These two outsiders operate politically in opposition to each other, and disagree fundamentally on big issues such as economics. But by exploiting the same public discontent, these populists could bring about the greatest change British politics has seen in decades, if not centuries.

Michael Crick is a political correspondent for Channel 4 News. Working for Channel 4 News represents something of a homecoming for Michael, who was a founding member of the Channel 4 News team when the program launched in 1982. Then, he was Washington correspondent. He joined the BBC in 1990, working first on Panorama and, from 1992, on Newsnight. Michael has won three Royal Television Society awards — for specialist reporter of the year in 2013, his coverage of the 1988 US election, and a special Panorama program on the life of Jeffrey Archer. He has written several books, including biographies of Alex Ferguson, Jeffrey Archer and Michael Howard. Richard Nixon famously said that whilst visiting the Oxford Union in 1978, his toughest question came from Michael, then a student. You can find Michael on Twitter under the handle, @MichaelLCrick.

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